Technical
Stops in play or record
This is becoming a more common problem these days. The first thing to check
is that there is adaquate torque on the take up spool. If there isn't
much then the cause
is usually down to two contributing factors.
The first is the drive pendulum which can cease up and the second more
serious factor, is wear on the reel motor bottom bearing.
The pendulum is simple to replace but the bearing is moulded into
the chassis and replacement necessitates that the entire chassis be replaced.
One possible compromise is to fit a small peice of plastic into the bottom
bearing to raise the rotor and allow it to move freely. Sony supply
a repair kit for this purpose.
The diagram above shows the pendulum assembly
No head rotation
You may find that the head drum fails to rotate. This
is due to a problem with the Hall effect device on the
head drum motor which is secured by a blob of glue which
tends to become conductive especially if it absorbs
moisture. The best remedy is to remove the glue from
the device. To do this first remove the rotor from
the bottom of the drum by undoing the lock-nut.
Sometimes, however, it is enough to wait for the
damp to dry out.
Deck goes into rewind
This can be caused by failure of the tape end sensor. You can check this by
unpluging the sensor at its socket on the PCB.
Failure to load a tape
The cassette carriage can fail to operate. This is caused by breakage of
the plastic gears in the side of the machanism. When this happens they
have to be replaced.
Power supply problems
This VCR uses a STR1229A (IC001) at the heart of its power supply. If you
experience PSU problems then this is the first thing to check. Be sure
to check outputs 'onload' as the regulator can otherwise appear OK.
This machine is nearly identical to the SL-F30
and many of the tips listed will be relevant.
Quick fault guide
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